It is strongly recommended that anyone interested in changing their name on their permanent resident card follows up directly with Canadian Immigration services to see if this will impact potential residency requirements.

Can do this at the same time as changing your gender on your permanent resident card.

You now have the option to have your gender marked as X or not to declare your gender. However, until Employment and Social Development Canada's (ESDC) computer systems can be upgraded to register this information, "male" or "female" will still appear on your SIN record. Service Canada will add a note to your record indicating your choice. (As of April 1st 2018)

Need proof of Canadian citizenship or immigration status document that shows the same sex (gender marker) as the one you are requesting.

If these documents do not reflect the same sex (gender marker) include:

A legal document issued by a Canadian province or territory (or equivalent abroad) indicating a change of sex (gender marker) and
supporting ID indicating a change of sex (gender marker) designation OR

X on Passport: You will soon be able to have your sex (gender marker) marked as X (unspecified) on your passport or travel document. Until then, you can
request an observation be added to your passport or travel document that says your sex (gender marker) should be X. (As of April 1st 2018)

See permanent resident card link above if unable to attain these documents or if documents are from outside of Canada.

Can do this at the same time as changing your name on your permanent resident card.

X on Permanent Resident Card: In the future, the Government of Canada will be introducing an “X” in the sex (gender marker) field. Until this becomes available, you may
request a supporting document, free of charge that will state: “The sex of the bearer should read as “X”, indicating that it is unspecified”.

See citizenship certificate link above if unable to attain these documents or if documents are from outside of Canada.

Can do this at the same time as changing your name on your Citizenship Certificate.

X on citizenship certificate: In the future, the Government of Canada will be introducing an “X” in the sex (gender marker) field. Until this becomes available, you may
request a supporting document, free of charge that will state: “The sex of the bearer should read as “X”, indicating that it is unspecified”.

If you were not born in BC and wish to update your birth certificate, you will need to contact the government agency responsible for issuing birth certificates wherever you were born. Gender reassignment surgery is no longer required to change gender/sex designation on identifications in any Canadian province or territory.

These documents are not identity documents. Therefore, they can only be amended to correct errors made by Canadian immigration officials in recording the information you provided when you applied to come to Canada.

If you change the information on the passport that your temporary resident documents are attached to, you should apply for a new document. Your application must match your current passport. Documents can only be amended if they are valid (have not expired).

The following documents can be changed to indicate an X under gender/sex designation. Some of these documents are currently in the process of transitioning to an X designation and have interim measures in place. Follow links to learn more:

Provincial Documents

You can change your gender marker to X on your BC provincial ID. Please see Change of Gender Marker section for more information.

If you want to change documents from other provinces you will need to contact the government agency responsible for issuing these. Some provinces have introduced unspecified gender designations on their documents.